Low lift trucks as industrial trucks have typically a load part and a drive part. The load part contains a load carrying means, mostly in the form of two parallel spaced wheel arms, which are supported on the front ends by load wheels The load wheels are bearing mounted in rocking arms, which can be swivelled about a relatively small predetermined lift with the aid of a bar linkage when the wheel arms are lifted. The load part is guided on the drive part and is lifted about the described lift with the aid of an arrangement of hydraulic cylinders in the drive part, wherein a bar linkage coupled with the drive part provides for that upon lifting the wheel arms, the rocking arm of the load wheels is extended at the same time by the bar linkage in the wheel arms.
It is known to realise such low lift trucks as operator accompanied vehicles and to use a drawbar for steering. The drawbar is pivotally bearing mounted around a horizontal and a vertical axis and in a driving connection with the drive unit, which in turn is pivotally bearing mounted around a vertical axis in the frame of the drive part. The drive unit drives the driving wheel, which is the steered wheel at the same time. It is known to arrange the steered wheel either centrally on the longitudinal axis or also laterally offset with respect to the same. A hydraulic power pack supplies the lift cylinder arrangement with hydraulic fluid. The drive motor is battery driven, and the arrangement of the battery is provided in a battery casing, in which case it is known to realise the battery casing as a part of the load part and to lift it at the same time when the load part is lifted. Usually the battery sits on that side of the drive part which faces the wheel arms, through which the length of the vehicle is determined by the length of the drive part and the battery casing, irrespective of the wheel arms.
The drive unit is often realised such that the drive motor is arranged on the upper side of a bearing part by which the drive wheel is rotatably bearing mounted around the vertical axis in the frame. The coupling between the drive motor and the axis of the wheel takes place via a bevel gear system. From DE 103 34 937 A1, the entire contents of which is corporated herein by reference, it is also known to use a wheel hub drive motor. A wheel hub drive motor decreases the expenditure for a gear.
From DE 197 00 272 A1, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, it has become known to dispose a battery block in a drawbar-guided industrial truck between the steerable driving wheel and a second wheel, which is disposed in the transverse direction of the industrial truck in a distance. In doing so, the drive wheel is disposed eccentrically. With the aid of the known industrial truck, a higher stiffness as well as well as a smaller dimension in the longitudinal direction is to be achieved. In such an industrial truck, the drawbar is also disposed eccentrically. However, the known industrial truck is not related to a low lift truck, but to a high lift truck with a lifting scaffold.
The present invention is based on the objective to provide a drawbar-guided low lift truck which has a particularly small dimension in the axis direction without additional construction expenditure.